Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2005, Page 98
decrease the need for surveillance. Resources used for surveillance are wasted in the sense
that they are unavailable for the achievement of collective goals.
D4. A deployable agent is one who is uncritically obedient to directives perceived as
charismatically legitimate. A deployable agent can be relied on to continue to carry out the
wishes of the collectivity regardless of his own hedonic interests and in the absence of any
external controls. Deployability can be operationalized as the likelihood that the individual
will continue to comply with hitherto ego-dystonic demands of the collectivity (e.g.,
mending, ironing, mowing the lawn, smuggling, rape, child abuse, murder) when not under
surveillance.
D5. Brainwashing is defined as an observable set of transactions between a charismatically
structured collectivity and an isolated agent of the collectivity with the goal of transforming
the agent into a deployable agent. Brainwashing is thus a process of ideological
resocialization carried out within a structure of charismatic authority.
The brainwashing process may be operationalized as a sequence of well-defined and
potentially observable phases. These hypothesized phases are: (1) identity stripping, (2)
identification, and (3) symbolic death/rebirth. The operational definition of brainwashing
refers to the specific activities attempted, whether or not they are successful, as they are
either observed directly by the ethnographer or reported in official or unofficial accounts by
members or ex-members. Although the exact order of phases and specific steps within
phases may vary from group to group, we should always expect to see the following
features, or their functional equivalents, in any brainwashing system: (1) the constant
fluctuation between assault and leniency and (2) the seemingly endless process of
confession, re-education, and refinement of confession.
D6. Hyper Credulity is defined as a disposition to accept uncritically all charismatically
ordained beliefs. All lovers of literature and poetry are familiar with ―that willing suspension
of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.‖ Hyper credulity occurs when this
state of mind, which, in most of us, is occasional and transitory, is transformed into a stable
disposition. Hyper credulity falls between hyper suggestibility on the one hand and stable
conversion of belief on the other. Its operational hallmark is plasticity in the assumption of
deeply held convictions at the behest of an external authority. This is an other-directed form
of what Robert Lifton has called the protean identity state.
D7. Relational Enmeshment is defined as a state of being in which self-esteem depends
upon belonging to a particular collectivity. It may be operationalized as immersion in a
relational network with the following characteristics: exclusivity (high ratio of in-group to
out-group bonds), interchangeability (low level of differentiation in affective ties between
one alter and another), and dependency (reluctance to sever or weaken ties for any
reason). In a developmental context, something similar to this has been referred to by
Bowlby as anxious attachment.
D8. Exit Costs are defined as the subjective costs experienced by an individual who is
contemplating leaving a collectivity. Obviously, the higher the perceived exit costs, the
greater will be the reluctance to leave. Exit costs may be operationalized as the magnitude
of the bribe necessary to overcome them. A person who is willing to leave if we pay him
$1,000 experiences lower exit costs than one who is not willing to leave for any payment
less than $1,000,000. With regard to cults, the exit costs are most often spiritual and
emotional rather than material which makes measurement in this way more difficult but not
impossible.
Hypotheses
Not all charismatic organizations engage in brainwashing. We therefore need a set of
hypotheses that will allow us to test empirically whether any particular charismatic system
decrease the need for surveillance. Resources used for surveillance are wasted in the sense
that they are unavailable for the achievement of collective goals.
D4. A deployable agent is one who is uncritically obedient to directives perceived as
charismatically legitimate. A deployable agent can be relied on to continue to carry out the
wishes of the collectivity regardless of his own hedonic interests and in the absence of any
external controls. Deployability can be operationalized as the likelihood that the individual
will continue to comply with hitherto ego-dystonic demands of the collectivity (e.g.,
mending, ironing, mowing the lawn, smuggling, rape, child abuse, murder) when not under
surveillance.
D5. Brainwashing is defined as an observable set of transactions between a charismatically
structured collectivity and an isolated agent of the collectivity with the goal of transforming
the agent into a deployable agent. Brainwashing is thus a process of ideological
resocialization carried out within a structure of charismatic authority.
The brainwashing process may be operationalized as a sequence of well-defined and
potentially observable phases. These hypothesized phases are: (1) identity stripping, (2)
identification, and (3) symbolic death/rebirth. The operational definition of brainwashing
refers to the specific activities attempted, whether or not they are successful, as they are
either observed directly by the ethnographer or reported in official or unofficial accounts by
members or ex-members. Although the exact order of phases and specific steps within
phases may vary from group to group, we should always expect to see the following
features, or their functional equivalents, in any brainwashing system: (1) the constant
fluctuation between assault and leniency and (2) the seemingly endless process of
confession, re-education, and refinement of confession.
D6. Hyper Credulity is defined as a disposition to accept uncritically all charismatically
ordained beliefs. All lovers of literature and poetry are familiar with ―that willing suspension
of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith.‖ Hyper credulity occurs when this
state of mind, which, in most of us, is occasional and transitory, is transformed into a stable
disposition. Hyper credulity falls between hyper suggestibility on the one hand and stable
conversion of belief on the other. Its operational hallmark is plasticity in the assumption of
deeply held convictions at the behest of an external authority. This is an other-directed form
of what Robert Lifton has called the protean identity state.
D7. Relational Enmeshment is defined as a state of being in which self-esteem depends
upon belonging to a particular collectivity. It may be operationalized as immersion in a
relational network with the following characteristics: exclusivity (high ratio of in-group to
out-group bonds), interchangeability (low level of differentiation in affective ties between
one alter and another), and dependency (reluctance to sever or weaken ties for any
reason). In a developmental context, something similar to this has been referred to by
Bowlby as anxious attachment.
D8. Exit Costs are defined as the subjective costs experienced by an individual who is
contemplating leaving a collectivity. Obviously, the higher the perceived exit costs, the
greater will be the reluctance to leave. Exit costs may be operationalized as the magnitude
of the bribe necessary to overcome them. A person who is willing to leave if we pay him
$1,000 experiences lower exit costs than one who is not willing to leave for any payment
less than $1,000,000. With regard to cults, the exit costs are most often spiritual and
emotional rather than material which makes measurement in this way more difficult but not
impossible.
Hypotheses
Not all charismatic organizations engage in brainwashing. We therefore need a set of
hypotheses that will allow us to test empirically whether any particular charismatic system
